Barbados 2017: Important information

Following a venue visit to Barbados in December 2015, and to Geest Shipping in January 2016, by representatives of the OK Dinghy and Finn Masters we are looking forward to what is set to be an amazing championship for both classes.

The four day visit to Barbados included discussions with the host club, the Barbados Yacht Club, the delivery team and various other parties, along with touring and exploring some of this Caribbean island's many attractions.

In an attempt to answer as many of your questions as possible we have compiled this page to explain what will happen and how it will happen. If you have further questions please ask and we will add to this page.

Schedule

Tues 23-Thurs 25 May (tbc)

OK Dinghy Measurement and registration

Thurs 25 May (tbc)

OK Dinghy practice race

Fri 26-Tues 30 May (tbc)

OK Dinghy Racing (10 races)

Weds 31 May - Thurs 1 June (tbc)

Day(s) off

Fri 2-Sun 4 June

Finn Masters Measurement and registration

Sun 4 June

Finn Masters practice race

Mon 5-Fri 9 June

Finn Masters races (8 races)

Entry

The Notice of Race, entry process and entry fee will be announced as soon as possible, probably before April 2016. Bear in mind that the GP14s have their world championship in Barbados this Easter, so until that is out of the way not a lot will happen.

Containers

One of the event’s major sponsors is Geest Line in the UK. The line operates out of Portsmouth in the UK and Le Havre in France. Geest operate four ships that sail on a 28 day rotation: Portsmouth-Le Harve-various Caribbean ports-Portsmouth.

Estimated costs per 40 foot container are US$1750 (2016 price), plus insurance (estimated around GBP 50 per boat), plus any inland transport to get the containers to one of the ports. Short sea shipping is also an option for countries that have access to a port. The transit time to Bridgetown is about 10 days, but if there is a large number of boats going, then shipments may have to be scheduled over several weeks to get them all there on time. The containers will be cleared in Bridgetown and trucked to the Barbados Yacht Club, where they will be stored for the duration of the event. All local costs in Barbados are being covered by the sponsorship.

PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT GEEST. We would prefer one coordinator for each shipment who will make all bookings through the Finn Masters organisation. Contact is Ray New (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.). Check back here for latest details. Notwithstanding that, Geest are not expecting to take any bookings until January 2017.

Anyone sending a container from outside Europe and not using Geest will have to make their own arrangements, however the arrangements on arrival will be the same.

Ray New (This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.) is coordinating the containers. Please contact him for latest local information.

Transport of containers to Geest Terminals

All containers have to be transported to the Geest terminals in either Portsmouth or Le Havre. In the UK the British fleet will load boats at Geest’s Portsmouth terminal. Arrangements can also be made to load near to Le Harve if there are enough boats going from nearby to make it worthwhile.

Otherwise there are three options for overland transport (for stuffing the container away from the ports) to one of the two loading ports.

Geest operate a fleet of owned containers. Geest can arrange to send a container on a truck to most destinations from Le Havre or Portsmouth. The container will have a three-hour window to be stuffed before being taken back to the port. Extra loading time is charged.

Sailors can make arrangements with a third party container owner to supply a container, which the sailors then stuff and the company deliver to the port for Geest to ship.

A combination of overland haulage and short-sea shipping. Short sea shipping is generally much cheaper than trucking. In this case the recommended port to use is Portsmouth. Containers can be shipped to a UK feeder port for overland transport to Portsmouth. Ports include Felixstowe, Tilbury, Southampton. For, say Denmark and Sweden, Russia, Finland, Poland, and maybe Germany, this will be a lot cheaper than road haulage all the way.

Insurance can be arranged through Geest for its leg of the transport chain, but otherwise, each container, is the responsibility of those coordinating the container. Neither IFA, FWM nor BTMI will be responsible for any part of it though, of course, help and advice is available where possible.

Payments

This is still be worked out but it is expected that while entry fees will be paid direct to the host club, all those shipping through Geest will pay via the Masters Organisation or IFA. Geest would prefer to deal with as few people as possible, so rather than have payments coming in from all over Europe, these will be coordinated through the Masters organisation and bookings will only be made when complete payments have been received. This payment will include the shipping fee, insurance and a small admin fee to cover paperwork and any unforeseen eventualities.

Timescale

Bearing in mind this event is combined with the OK Dinghy World Championship there will be a lot of containers to be delivered and limited slots per vessel. Assuming current level of demand for Geest shipping services, in May-June (low season), it is expected that around 10-12 containers can be sent per sailing, perhaps a few more. Therefore if boat numbers are as expected – 100-150 OK Dinghies (8-12 containers) and 200-250 Finns (22-27 containers) – the containers may have to be shipped over a number of weeks. If there were 40 containers the first boats may need to leave four weeks before they were needed in Barbados. The return trip is less of a problem because the OK Dinghy containers should all have left before the Finn containers are ready. There is no maximum number of containers but it just might take longer to get them all out to Barbados.

Restrictions

No fumigation needed and not many restrictions on what can go in the containers except hazardous materials: aerosols, paints, resins etc.

Carnets

It is our understanding that no carnets are required to import into Barbados. All local Customs procedures will be varied out as part of the event management. We will update when we have more specific information.

Flights

Virgin Atlantic is also a major sponsor and as such will provide discounts with a code for booking nearer the time. Flights do not become available until 300 days before departure, so about August 2016. The majority of long haul connections are through London, while other airlines provide connections through USA, Canada, Colombia and several Caribbean islands.

Hotels

There is a lot of accommodation from self-catering bungalows to 5-star hotels. A selection of hotels will be available at discounted rates with a special booking code. Packages that include Virgin flights and hotels will be offered through Virgin Holidays and a discount code will be available. We will add further details to this page as we get them.

Timeline

1 Jan 2016 to 1 Feb 2017

Book your space in container (see contacts above).

Jan-May 2016 (tbc)

Codes for selected hotel discounts issued

1 August 2016 (suggested)

Pay for boat transport

1 August 2016 (approx)

Flights become available (discount code and contact with Virgin Atlantic will be issued during July). Some specific flights may be block booked for a limited time.

1 May 2017

Entry complete with entry fee paid to organising authority

Early-Mid May 2017

Containers that are being shipped with Geest Line to be loaded and transported to Portsmouth or Le Havre for shipping.